Comic-Con: Day 1 Round-Up – Sherlock, Archie & More!

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While we endeavor to bring you all the latest and greatest exclusives, updates and ongoings as San Diego Comic-Con, it can prove difficult to do in real time, so each day we’ll be rounding up the day’s top stories to give you all the news you want in one convenient place. The official start of the con was an action-packed affair with everything from Ender’s Game to Sherlock making waves among the eagerly awaiting fans piling into the San Diego Convention Center. For up-to-the-minute updates on the Nerdist SDCC experience, use #NerdistSDCC and be a part of the Comic-Conversation. And if I didn’t lose you with that last pun, read on and enjoy the nerdy bounty of Comic-Con, Day 1.

-Riverdale succumbs to the zombie apocalypse in this brand new trailer for Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla’s Afterlife With Archie. The ongoing comic series, first announced in March, will make its debut at Comic-Con this weekend. Aguirre-Sacasa has also been tapped to write a zombie-less live-action Archie film, which he is currently working on with director Jason Moore. [via THR]

-Neither Benedict Cumberbatch nor Martin Freeman were supposed to appear at Sherlock‘s debut Comic-Con panel, but both actors made a surprise appearance via video, filming short shout-outs to the crowded masses packed into the Hall H ballroom. “Make sure you really scream and shout and ask them lots of belligerent questions,” noted Martin Freeman of producers Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and Sue Vertue. For his part Mr. Khan-berbatch delivered a short mimed video of what it’s like to play a modern version of history’s most famous detective and revealed the secret of how Sherlock survived his fall. The hit BBC series makes its return in 2014, and it doesn’t take a genius detective to figure out that we can’t wait. [via EW]

-Our own Perry Michael Simon took us inside the Ender’s Game/Divergent panel where the studio reaffirmed its support for LGBT rights and stars like Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Shailene Woodley and more joined the Chris Hardwick-moderated panel.

-The DreamWorks Animation panel took flight by announcing that stars Cate Blanchett, Djimon Hounsou and Kit Harington are joining the star-studded cast of How to Train Your Dragon 2. It looks like Jon Snow finally found the Khaleesi’s dragons. Blanchett is set to pay a vigilante with a penchant for freeing enslaved dragons. Honsou is playing a malevolent dragon hunter and Harrington will serve as one of his dragon trapping cohorts. The Dragon series, which has now become a trilogy, is one of the most successful franchises for DreamWorks Animation. Director Dean DeBlois noted that this new film is influenced by Empire Strikes Back and it takes place 5 years after the first film, following the Vikings and their dragons as they battle a new threat. [via Deadline]

– In further proof that he might secretly be Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, Chris Hardwick hosted a panel for Nickelodeon which took a look at the animation giant’s past, present and future.

– Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Fans also got their first taste of Jamie Foxx as Electro in a teaser clip for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in advance of Sony’s panel on Friday. While some might be worried that he’s more Sinister Smurf than Sinister Six, we’re going to keep our fingers crossed and wait to see what Sony has in store.